Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Have
you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know
how, for everyone you know.

My
wife Dr. Delaney shot this over to me yesterday via email with the subject
line, “thought you would like for DISPATCH" (OFH).

So,
at the good Doctor’s request, here is a little from her and Charlie Brown
today. I added the scripture references for good measure!

Over the Thanksgiving
holiday, I introduced my 3-year-old daughter Marty to the 1965 classic A
Charlie Brown Christmas, an animated feature that would never get greenlit in
today’s world of over-protective — and overly precious — parenting. The opening
lines of the film set the stage for what is one of the most poignant and
sophisticated messages geared toward youth I’ve ever seen. “I think there must
be something wrong with me, Linus,” Charlie Brown, who’s battling a whole host
of neuroses that could rival Woody Allen’s, says to his friend. “Christmas is
here but I'm not happy. I don't feel the way I'm supposed to feel. I just don't
understand Christmas, I guess. I like getting presents and sending Christmas
cards and decorating trees and all that, but I'm not happy. I always end up
feeling depressed.”

As the story unfolds,
we learn the source of Brown’s blues — an excess of holiday cheer driven by
consumerism and untethered to more substantial and enduring forms of meaning.
Although Brown eventually finds solace and significance in the Christian theology
underlying the national holiday, I spoke with a top social psychologist and
philosopher about how the quest for deeper meaning (however you define it) can
temper your holiday blues.

The root of Brown’s
sad state of mind may stem from the disconnect between how he feels and the
overwrought displays of joyfulness. Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., a professor of
psychology at the University of California, Riverside, who studies happiness,
acknowledges how overwhelming the cultural imperative to be happy can be: “The
emphasis on happiness can feel oppressive,” especially, she notes, during the
holidays. “The idea that we should all be happy all the time is ever present in
the United States,” she explains, but it reaches a crescendo this time of year,
when we’re expected to be as plump with cheer as Jolly Old St. Nick. “When you
feel like everyone else is happy and having a good time, the contrast is more
salient, more striking,” she says.

Paul Thagard, Ph.D.,
an eminent Canadian philosopher and author of The Brain and the Meaning of
Life, agrees, adding: “Pursuing happiness by itself, or cheer, is not a very
good strategy because it’s not clear what that is,” he says, pointing to a 2013
study that demonstrates the ephemeral nature of happiness compared to the more
enduring and satiating nature of meaning. “Meaningfulness...may involve
understanding one’s life beyond the here and now, integrating future and past,”
the paper reads, “In contrast, happiness, as a subjective feeling state, exists
essentially in the present moment.”

With that in mind,
Thagard and Lyubomirsky urge us not to get caught up in the gaudy theater of
holiday cheer and instead anchor ourselves in meaning, as Charlie Brown
eventually learns in the film. Try this 5-pronged approach:

Cultivate
deep connections (Proverbs 17:17)

Thagard advises us to
use the opportunity of festive get-togethers to have real heart-to-hearts with
family and friends: “The best thing people can do is to try to foster the
relationships they have in ways that reach deeper levels of connection,” he
says. Broach subjects — parenthood, relationships, life purpose, dreams,
defining memories — that forge deeper bonds that make you feel seen, understood
and known.

Give
thanks (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

“Express gratitude —
through an email, a phone call, in person — to someone in your life you’re
grateful for,” Lyubomirsky says. “Thinking about the things you take for
granted, as opposed to what you want and are not getting,” she adds, can help
build on your sense of meaning. To boot, a study came out earlier this year
showing that gratitude predicts hope and happiness.

Focus on
something outside yourself (Hebrews 13:16)

Part of Charlie
Brown’s trouble is that he’s stuck in an endless cycle of neurotic and
self-loathing thoughts. “It’s morally required and more psychologically desirable
when people stop thinking so much about themselves,” Thagard argues. Research
published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin last year showed
self-centeredness has a reciprocal relationship with loneliness — which means
that learning how to get off the merry-go-round of self-obsession and see
beyond yourself has healing potential. “I think a lot of life’s problems are
due to too much self-focus or self-absorption,” Lyubomirsky says, “So anything
you can do to take the focus off yourself will be beneficial.”

Find
opportunities to help others (Deuteronomy 15:11)

One way to redirect
your attention is to seek out opportunities to help others. “Practice acts of
kindness,” Lyubomirsky suggests. For instance, “choose someone in your life
this week and do something to make them happier.” Thagard says that research
indicates people who serve others have a greater sense of meaning and purpose.
Studies have demonstrated the mental health benefits of volunteering, so pick
up some shifts at a soup kitchen or charity for children to feed your sense of
meaning.

Monday, December 17, 2018

Have
you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know
how, for everyone you know.

While
in Nashville last week with my amazing friends from West Virginia, DC, and
Tennessee, we heard from author William Moyers.I mentioned him in an earlier OFH.One of the things he shared in his talk was a little snippet from Gary
Gunderson.

Gunderson
is the author of “Leading Causes of Life: Five Fundamentals to Change the Way You Live
Your Life”

Gunderson
is Senior Vice President for Health and Welfare Ministries for Methodist
Healthcare and the director for the Interfaith Health Program at Rollins School
of Public Health at Emory University. He is a commissioned Deacon in the United
Methodist Church.

And
he identifies the 5 leading causes of life as:

Connection

Coherence

Agency

Blessing

Hope

Now
if you are a frequent follower of the OFH you know I love that first one!In fact, in my world, CONNECTION is KEY to
RECOVERY! - A person standing alone can be attacked and
defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better,
for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken. – Ecclesiastes 4:12 (NLT)

Gunderson
describes the next one, coherence, as a zeal for learning, for expanding our
faith.That is a healthy habit for
sure!!!

Agency
is a pursuit of purpose; of finding a lane a way to serve.This too is an important one in the role of
recovery. While in Nashville with our friends from Project Return, we discussed
the magnitude of purpose on a healthy return to society and an effective
recovery.

He (GOD) creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work
he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be
doing. – Ephesians 2:10 (MSG)

The
last two are “sort of” obvious.We know
that when we offer blessing, we get blessed! (1 Peter
3:9) and we know the importance of HOPE!

In fact, I
love the way Rick Warren tees up the criticality of HOPE in our lives when he
says, “We could go 40 days without food,
8 days without water, but we can’t live one SINGLE day without HOPE!”

And Ben
Courson remarked that “Hope is the glue
that holds FAITH and LOVE together”.

I
would agree.And the LORD is MOST
GENEROUS with HOPE that is for sure!!!

Your future is bright and filled with a living hope

that will never fade away.
– Proverbs 23:18 (TPT)

So,
while we often are bludgeoned with news on “leading causes of death”, can I
encourage you to seek out and embrace some leading causes of life today?

Get
connected!Embrace faith! Uncover and
pursue your GOD-GIVEN purpose! Bless somebody! And cling to the boundless HOPE
of GOD!

Friday, December 14, 2018

Have
you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know
how, for everyone you know.

Whirlwind!

Sorry
I missed you yesterday.Was one of those
“Willie Nelson” days. “On the Road Again”
- 😊

Clarksville
to Indianapolis to Paulding Ohio to my bed finally at about 11ish was the
itinerary.

But
what a BLESSED day!

My
friends in Clarksville have an amazing and scalable counseling solution to
share with ALL our RECOVERY partners!

My
dear sister in Indy is seeing doors open for her on several levels; chaplaincy,
expansion of her PAL footprint (https://palgroup.org/),
not to mention alliances being formed with formidable health systems.

And
my partners from Paulding?

GOD
is up to something amazing there!A new
LIVING FREE work is a month away from launching. An AMAZING prevention plan
called “Helping Kids Prosper” is
being deployed.And a READY coalition is
on the horizon!

I
am one blessed fella!To be able to
lead, guide and inspire folks to using their gifts, engaging their communities
and the challenges is such an honor.

And
as we were discussing the plans for Paulding’s plan called CITIZENS OF PAULDING FOR RECOVERY AND PREVENTION, I was so moved by
the ENERGY of the 30 or so in attendance.They WANT to engage! They WANT to become DIFFERENCE makers!And I believe they have the FAITH to do it,
FAITH that is ready to ACT; “JAMES FAITH”

My dear brothers and sisters, what good is it if someone claims to
have faith but demonstrates no good works to prove it? How could this kind of
faith save anyone? For example, if a brother or sister in the faith is poorly
clothed and hungry and you leave them saying, “Good-bye. I hope you stay warm
and have plenty to eat,” but you don’t provide them with a coat or even a cup
of soup, what good is your faith? So, then faith that doesn’t involve action is
phony. - James 2:14-17 (TPT)

I
share these stories with you today to encourage you.It is so easy to look at the challenges in
our communities, things like suicide, addiction, trauma, trafficking, and
disconnection and feel paralyzed.But if
we can EMBRACE our “JAMES FAITH” a faith that is READY to act, we can, and we
will with GOD’S direction and GOD’s help begin to turn the tide on these social
challenges and help turn our communities back to GOD and back to loving one
another.

I
believe it!

I
see it and get to participate in it all the time!

So
pray for these folks who are EXERCISING their faith; who are wading into the
challenges with creativity, passion, and expectation!

And
pray for yourself today.

Ask
GOD for WAYS that your FAITH can be enhanced and vitalized with some ACTION! I
promise you that when those two things come together, GOD will BLESS you and
those you serve, and you TOO will become a DIFFERENCE MAKER!!!

never forget, no
matter how overwhelming life's challenges and problems seem to be, that one
person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one
person that all the changes that matter in the world come about. So be that one
person.” ― R. Buckminster Fuller